Thursday, May 18, 2017

Cousin Jack--Add Being Deported and Deserting to His Story!

Oh, Cousin Jack. Every time I post about the crazy paper trail you
left behind, I find another nugget and get to write about you again!

I've
already posted about the early life of my grandfather's first cousin Jacob "Jack" Landor, in which he was
kidnapped, naturalized at least twice and was caught as a stowaway--you
can read about that here. I also found that he survived his ship being torpedoed and shipwrecked and wrote about that saga here.

But
there's still more. Since Jack was a merchant marine, he appeared on
many ship manifests coming into the United States. The first was the
one where he was caught as a stowaway and was deported, as I wrote about in my first post about Jack. That ship
arrived in New York on March 19, 1930. But apparently Jack really really
really wanted to come to America.

Jack Landor Manifest, May 1930

Jack devised a way to get back to America. Less than two months after being caught as a stowaway and being sent back to Europe, he signed on to be a Pantry Boy on the S.S. River Hudson. But even before the TSA and the terrorist watch list, the U.S. Immigration Service realized that Jack had already been deported once.

Closeup of Jack's Detainment Order

Since Jack was formerly deported (just two months earlier!), he was ordered to be detained on board while in port.

After this, there's no sign that Jack tried to get into America again until 1944, shortly after he was on a ship that was torpedoed and shipwrecked. On May 17, 1944, Jack was a crew member on the R.V. Athelduke. And once again (because he was Jack!), he has a special page in the ship manifest.

Jack Landor, Ship Deserter!

Jack was the sole name listed under "Deserting Seamen." Looks like he finally found a way to get to the US. And once he was in the US, he wasted no time establishing himself in America--and leaving a nice paper trail while he was at it.

Jack Landor's SS5

By June 13 (or maybe 15), 1944, Jack was applying for a Social Security number, less than a month after deserting the ship.

Jack Landor, Petition for Naturalization

According to his Petition for Naturalization, Jack enlisted in the United States Navy less than a month after applying for a Social Security number and less than two months after entering the United States by deserting his ship. Leveraging his military service, Jack became a US citizen on November 11, 1944--less than four months after his ship desertion. And from that point on, he came into America without issue on a regular basis in his merchant marine role.

So what else will I find out about Jack? I'm sure there's way more out there on this character! So stay tuned!